NEW BLOG ON TUMBLR

Hey, Friends! In an effort to drag my feet into the 21st century, I've migrated this blog's posts over to a new Tumblr blog that matches my new website. This blog will remain indefinitely, but I won't be updating it.

Check out the new website at www.csmcdermott.com
and the blog at www.cshanemcdermott.tumblr.com.

I hope to see you there. Later!

A long time ago at a bout far, far away...

One-sixteenth.

I'm one-sixteenth of the way finished with the thumbnails for my Seahorse comic. That's half of the first 28-page #0 issue. Which is one of eight 28-page issues. That's a total of 224 pages.

It took me the entire fall semester to write the script for issues 1-7 as well as creating all of the character sketches. I've spent this semester writing, re-writing, re-re-writing, and finishing the script for issue 0. I have just begun the thumbnails.

Here's a peak at my process. I've compiled all the tiny thumbnail doodles I do on my printed script. I then do really REALLY detailed thumbnails on templates I made. Don't ask me to do the math and tell you what percentage of an actual page it is. I have no idea. I'm also posting some prep sketch pages to show how many different ways I frame and block my shots before making my final decision. I don't always pick the shots I like best. Sometimes you have to pick what works best with the rest of the page. Sometimes.

I'm not sure why they're so gray. I do, however, know why the first page looks all wrinkled. It's because I had to glue shitty preliminary scans of pages 2 - 4 to a new sheet of paper along with the originals for pages 1 and 5. BECAUSE my jerk cat Heinrich jumped onto my desk AS SOON AS I FINISHED THEM and fucking wretched all over them. It was nasty. This is the same cat who waited until I was asleep and vomited all over my night guard case because I stopped him from vomiting on the rug earlier in the evening.

sigh.

Anyway...STUFF!

If you like pina coloadas...

...and roller derby and THOR and LOKI and mash-ups and gender swapping and comic books and maybe not pina coladas because I don't know if they sell those at bouts, but you still like all those other things...AND run-on sentences, then this is the blog post for you. I'm so excited about this one I'm peeing my pants (as we speak) with anticipation.

I also never posted the final "disco" double header poster from last June so I'm posting it here...along with the one from July because I heart it. Seriously. Hearts like shoot out of my eyes for it. Pew Pew! (that was hearts)

Seriously, why can't I have a job JUST DOING THIS?

Page 10...sort of.

This semester Jessica Abel is leading our mentored studio at CCA and our first assignment is to take one of our thesis pages and rework it with a different layout and shots. I'm finishing up the script so I haven't even started thumbnailing pages, but I picked one of my favorites to dive into and then rework. This is the first time Sam encounters the Wicked Witch of the Old West. I haven't inked anything with my brush in a few months so I was a little rusty. I also feel my love affair with the brush is waning. There are SOOO many pages to do that I think I'm going to switch to nibs for more speed. I'll ink my covers with a brush, and some aspects on the interiors, but I'm looking forward to a change of pace.

Sam from the Fahr-Fahrawei Galaxy and Manfred, the robotic, high school mascot turned dream world warrior.

Sam is a robot girl that was once human. I'm not going to go into any more detail here about her origin, but I can say she looks out for Jack when he first returns to the dream world. She's handy in a fight as well. I played around with several different hip designs for Sam, but have settled on the larger ball and socket design. For now. This is what her robot body looks like, but she wears clothes for most of the comic because it makes her feel a little more human.

I almost called this "The Long Arm of the Law" because her extended arm is a little too long in the original sketch sans Photoshop correction, but I decided to just make a joke about it here instead.

I guess you could call her THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW.

Anyway...

I will tell you a little bit about Manfred, however. During the homecoming hall decorating contest at Jack's high school, he and his best friends created a robotic tiger mascot out of cardboard. Naturally, Jack did a lot of daydreaming about Manfred and his imaginary origin is that they actually built him out of an old F-150 and brought him to life Frankenstein-style with a bolt of lightning. Ultimately, Manfred has to battle a robotic mascot from a rival school and all kinds of giant robot/high school antics ensue. This daydreaming about Manfred created a very real Manfred in the dream world.

In Jack's long absence from the dream world there was an epic battle in which Manfred was destroyed. Now that Jack has returned to the dream world he rebuilds Manfred with the help of Sam's intergalactic technology. The sketches reveal the original, boxier Manfred, and the revised sketch shows the new and improved Manfred. There are still visible pieces of the Ford F-150.

Bold explorers from the Planet Xarglefax and The Wicked Witch of the Old West

So here's some more stuff. The Xarglefaxian space craft transforms into a giant robot, and is piloted by three bumbling Xarglefaxian space explorers. One wears a red uniform, one wears gold, and the other blue. Wait, what? Also, their ship almost crashes when it enters the atmosphere and they have to save themselves by deploying a giant parachute. The pattern on the parachute is the pattern from the Atari Space Invaders video game from the 80's. It also kinda looks like the pattern on Clint Eastwood's poncho in A Fistful of Dollars. The robot becomes entangled in the parachute and ends up poking a hole in it, and severing the cords to free itself. The result is a poncho with fringe. Neat, eh? You don't have to answer that. I already know it's boss.

And below that you'll see the Wicked Witch of the Old West. I don't want to say too much about her because I want her to remain mysterious, but I will say BULLETS THAT TURN PEOPLE INTO FROGS!

Oh yeah...these guys are bad guys.

Gunslinger Ghost and Phantom Phastdraw

Two young brothers were gunned down along with their parents in the dusty hole known as GhostTown Gulch. The spirit of a mighty wolf brought them back from the other side to become masked lawmen and to seek justice...for the justice-less. Ehem.

Anyway, GhostTown Gulch is the first stop in the Seahorse Comic, and there are these are the costumes/dream world alter egos for brothers Jack and Will Douglass respectively.

A Roller Derby Experience 65 Million Years In The Making...

I haven't slept much in the last couple of days because I've been working and reworking the July Poster for Memphis Roller Derby.  These posters are some of the most fun I've had in a while.  But like I said...I haven't slept much...and I'm feeling less "modest" than usual so I'll just go ahead and say "I know".

I know.

(I know = Yes, I know it's awesome and I'm a badass)

("modest" = It's usually an act.  I always know I'm a badass)

Dropping off of the map...kind of literally...

That's witty because I'm referring to my Seahorse webcomic, and the home page is LITERALLY a map.  It is LITERALLY a map.  See what I did there?

Anyway, I just updated the blog portion of the webcomic with exciting news!  I'll try not to spoil it here so go THERE and read it!  www.seahorsecomic.com

I'd also like to show off the art I just finished for the June poster for Memphis Roller Derby.  I don't mind sounding conceited here when I say it's THE BIZNESS.  I'm not sure if that's a thing people say, "the business", but I like to think my "BIZNESS" spin is 100% original.  In my mind, it means "BOSS", which means AWESOME.  For the old people following my blog...(are there any old people following my blog?)...that means GOOD.

I did the design aspect as well, but I won't post the complete poster until MRD has them printed.  It's also best that someone else proof my spelling and general design work because I am NOT a fontsmith.

I should also add that "THE BIZNESS" reminds me of my cat Remmington.  (Full name = Remmington Steele Pitters).  Anyway, Remmington is a fluffy cat with those little tufts of hair that stick out from the peds in his paws.  These result in reduced traction, and maximize a cat's ability to run and slide across your freshly polished hardwood floors or coffee table.  It also maximizes a cat's natural ability to knock your stuff over.  Anyway, he slides into the living room all Tom Cruise-in-his-socks a lot, and Ashley called him "Risky Business" the other night.  Risky Business is my new nickname for Remmington.  (the cat...not the cat burglar)  OOOOH...I just realized my cat isn't ONLY named after Pierce Brosnan's character, but he's named after a character that's a CAT BURGLAR!  Ordained in the cosmos, I tell you.

Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

I found two fonts that I had forgotten to install a while ago.  Both "celtic-y" in theme.  I think the celtic knots in the Celtic Decorative Drop Caps font might be a bit too much, but I think the roundness of the Stonecross font works well with the circular aspect of the Seahorse relic.

Or should I just leave it alone?

THOUGHTS???????

Also...these are roughs.  I would still trace the font, ink it, and then add the textures from the first font.

Also also...I think the kerning between the A and the H in the Stonecross logo needs some work.

I lied. NOW, I'm done.

The orange on the other one was...too ORANGE.

Done. Totally Done. I think...

Eh?

Ok...how about these?  I made two roughs.  One is a broken seahorse ring and the other is a little more orange oxidation/rust/whatever happens to bronze behind the E and it has a newer, simpler stroke.  Both of these are roughs and would require re-inking the little broken edges for the ring or the stroke for the letters.  (these were just quick photoshop tests...DON'T JUDGE ME).

Thoughts??

I'm close!  I think.

Entangled Indecision Over Webcomic Header!

So which one do you guys like??  I've tinkered with it so many times and created SOOOO many variations that it's all starting to run together.  I'd love specific suggestions if you guys have any.  I'm ready to finish this thing and move onto the rest of the home page layout and then start plotting out the individual comic layouts.

THOUGHTS??  QUESTIONS??  COMMENTS??

Merooga Chrigma! (Merry Christmas)

Skate or Fry...

I'll spare you the story of how I was a poser in 6th and/or 7th grade.  My pals were skaters and I was still in my chubby "I can eat 2 whole Church's chicken breasts, a couple of wings, 2 ears of corn, and maybe 2 of their peach pies" stage.  I also had a "skater" haircut.  I could not skate and I didn't have a skateboard.  To make matters worse, they misspelled my name in the yearbook that year.  "Shanea".  To be fair, in my state at the time, I had what could have passed for the beginnings of breasts.  Man, it also sucked that I wore THE SAME SHIRT for yearbook pictures two years in a row.  Thanks for watch dogging me there, mom.  Sigh.

But all of that is water under the bridge...or...ya know...asphalt under the wheels?  That was a stretch.  Sorry.

Anyway, this is a piece I did for the "Art on the Move" art auction organized by Hernando Skates, the folks involved with bringing a long overdue skate park to my hometown of Hernando.  I was asked by their public relations director (and old friend) Miranda Mitchell to donate some art.

This was one of the first things I've done outside of my editorial work for the CA and since my departure.  To be TOTALLY honest, I didn't even know how to approach image-making that wasn't guided by some type of article or narrative.  I just futzed around in my sketchbook for a while and after drawing lots of horned people in profile, which I have a weird tendency toward, I panicked, settled on one, and gave him a skateboard necklace and a pair of Chuck Taylors for earrings.  Then he just sort of turned into a devil guy with a flaming, severed head and I settled on the concept of "skate or fry" instead of "skate or die".  That's what all the skate rats said, right?  Skate or die?  Or am I totally square and just making up lame stuff?

If I had my druthers I'd make a few changes to this guy, but I'm just going to commit to him be a one-off print and call it a day.

Anyway, here he is.

When you wish upon a STAR...WARS.

The first of what will probably be many Disney/Star Wars themed pieces on the blog.  :)

Raise a little Hell

Here are both versions of my Hellboy for the Superhero Cocoa Halloween contest.  Check it out and you'll see Kayla Cline's awesome drawing of Castiel dressed as Hellboy!

Send me an angel...

...right now.  right now.

Does anyone else remember the 80's stunt BMX movie RAD?  I loved that movie.  I mean loved.  To be honest I was probably obsessed with it.  We watched the VHS tape so many times that it became discolored and fuzzy.  That may or may not have also been due to it being a bootleg copy.  Who knows?

But Shane, what does that have to do with the images of Hellboy below?  I'm glad you asked.  There's a scene in RAD in which the hero, a guy named Cru Jones...which I just thought was the shit at the time...has a dance number with Lori Loughlin (another stunt rider) during the high school prom.  It's pretty epic.  If you don't think so that means you probably suck at understanding epic.

Anyway, I may or may not have "Send me an angel" by Real Life in my iTunes playlist and I may or may not have thought of it when I drew this picture of Hellboy dressed as an angel from a popular tv show.  I can't say who just yet, but you'll see soon enough.  This is a promo piece I did to accompany a really awesome promo piece by bestest pal Kayla Cline for the SHCC Halloween 2012 contest...which I am immensely excited about.  I am so excite!  ehem.  Anyway...